Qwerqy headed towards the Captain's Quarters and told Captain Malus how to get to the xenos system. Malus then relayed this information to the other Captains who would pilot the troop/staff transport vessels that would take the Hesporus garrison off the planet.

Everything was almost set. They were almost ready to leave.

Q made his way to the courtyard where everyone was congregating. This is where the trasnport ships would be landing as well. He glanced back towards the window of the Observation Deck on the cliff side. Enki was still up there, next to the railing. He had a blank look on his face. Q waved to get his attention and gestured for him to come down.

Enki made his way to where he saw Q last and saw him talking with a member of the mining crew. Q noticed Enki approaching and waved the worker aside.

"What was that about?" Enki said, pointing to the worker.

"I was just reassuring him." Q replied. "The garrison is worried, you know. They fear that we're leading them astray, as Destin did. I was just easing his mind."

"It seems to have worked." Enki postulated. "You appear to have a way with men."

Q laughed. "Back to business, then."

"Right. Business. That's much more interesting than what we were just talking about."

"Enki..."

Holding up his hands. "Alright, fine. So it looks as though we're almost ready to leave. Which ship will we be taking? Unless of course we aren't taking a ship, and you plan to drive us in an RV singing old Kathian show tunes.

"Enki..."

"I'd pay to see that..."

"Enki!"

"Okay okay I'll stop. Seriously though."

"We'll be going aboard that ship there," Q said, pointing to the east. "Captain Malus will be flying us in that one."

"Do you not trust me to drive?'

Qwerqy made eye contact with Enki. "Of course not."

"You've got it all don't you? Looks, ridiculous height, and smarts."

"This is going to be a regular thing isn't it, Enki?'

"That's a stupid question... Of course it is."

"Alright well let's continue this on board the ship, at least. Nightfall is approaching and I'd rather not fly thorough Hesporus' atmosphere at night. Electrical storms and whatnot."

"Yeah that might be bad." Enki said.

"Yep. Just a little bit."

Q and Enki made their way to Malus' ship. It was a medium sized vessel with four diagonal wings for atmospheric maneuvars and a single large engine in back for space flight as well as Reaction Control Systems along the sides. On the right side of the ship was its name. The H6 Contradame.

Malus was already in the cockpit and the ship was flight ready. As soon as Q and company were on board, the ship lifted off.

The entire Hesprous garrison was soon in the skies, and they all headed to orbit. However, Hesprous' atmosphere is very unstable and storms are triggered by the smallest things. Nightfall, daybreak, things like that. When hundreds of transport ships all took off at once, it caused massive turbulence. When they were in orbit looking down at the planet, they saw massive spiraling columns of air devastating the planet.

They left chaos in their wake.

The fleet suffered no losses as a result of the storm, though. All ships survived and were soon on their way to the Xenos system.

Even with modern advancements in interstellar travel, the trip would take a couple hours. Back on the Contradame, Enki and Qwerqy were sitting beside a window on the left side of the ship. Enki had fallen asleep and Qwerqy was biding his time, staring out the window. In his mind, he was reflecting on what had happened to Hydra 6.

He remembered being in the Council room, a fortnight prior to his secession.

He was in a large hexagonal room sitting at a wide circular table that took up most of the room. This is where the Hydra 6 council would meet to discuss current events. Enki was seated at the other end of the table, leaning back in his chair and chatting with Koeus, another council member. Two others, Maxciel and Neo, were at the far right of the room getting coffee.

In the center of the room, standing at a podium, was Destin. The founder of Hydra 6. He had called this meeting out of the blue, stating that it was urgent.

He called for everyone to be seated. They obeyed.

He began describing an interesting discovery.

He told the Council of a Hydra cargo ship transporting some Endurium. Despite being warned in advance, the ship took a detour through an unstable star system. While passing through, the star released a massive solar flare that disabled the ships flight capabilities. It was stranded in the ustable system. Hours after their power went out, the star went supernova. All hands were lost.

However, when a separate Hydra ship went to investigate, they found the Endurium cargo intact, but that wasn't all.

The Endurium was altered by the supernova. It was "improved." It gained additional properties. It was stronger, yet more malleable. It was more radioactive, yet the radiation decayed much quicker. Among other things, it had also gained a sinister red color.

This new form of Endurium was brought to Destin's attention. He insisted that more of it should be produced.

He had called this meeting to explain just how he planned to do that.

He proposed that we send more Endurium cargo ships to dying star systems. But he said that these endeavors would be manned missions, rather than ones controlled by A.I.

His reasoning was that it would cost less to send people than it did to send advanced A.I. He attempted to sugarcoat this by saying that it would be, "less people to pay and to worry about."

He wanted to disintegrate his own men, just to produce a new material.

The council showed mixed feelings about this plan. Koeus was fond of Destin's plan, and Max and Neo wanted to stop the project altogether and destroy the samples. Qwerqy was seemingly appalled at Destin's apathy, and Enki merely sat with a crooked smile.

Q said that he would not stand for this. Destin challenged him. "What exactly will you do to stop me?" He snapped.

"Don't make me ruin the surprise, Dessy."

Q got up to leave. He locked eyes with Enki.

"I need to talk to you. Come with me." He said.

"You know I enjoy our talks." Enki replied. "Let's go."

Q thought through this scenario over and over in his head as he stared out the window of the Contradame. Then he was interrupted by Enki knocking on his exoskeleton.

"Hello? You still in there?"

"Yes, I was just thinking... Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, be ready."

"...."

"...."

"I have no idea what I meant by that. C'mon, you're needed on the bridge."

They both went towards the flight deck. Captain Malus was waiting inside.

Outside the front window of the ship, was a medium sized moon orbiting a blue ice giant. It was a Grayish-green hue and it appeared to have an atmosphere.

"Alright Kapitän, how're we looking?" Enki remarked.

"We've arrived at the Xenos system. All that's left is to designate a landing site.

"What're our options?"

Pointing to the window. "Well as you can see, were orbiting a moon of the system's outermost gas giant. We could land there, or we could keep looking. We've plenty of other options."

"No." Qwerqy said suddenly. "We're landing there."

"Are you sure, Q?" Enki asked. "The least we could do is have a look at the other moons..."

"I'm positive. That moon is our best bet."

"If you say so. Take us down Malus. Tell the fleet to follow us."

The H6 Contradame sent the message to land to the rest of the fleet. Then they all headed towards the surface.